Thursday! Thursday! Thursday! Come on down to the Richmond International Raceway for the fifth annual Denny Hamlin Short Track Showdown! 75 drivers! 100 laps! One worthy cause! Watch the region’s best drivers take on Denny Hamlin himself, all to benefit his foundation’s quest to raise awareness of cystic fibrosis and its research and treatment. Local companies McGeorge Toyota and Martin’s grocery stores (well, localish) have thrown their weight behind this exciting yet socially responsible event. Might you consider doing the same?

Thurs. Apr. 26 • 7:00 PM

Richmond International Raceway, 602 E. Laburnum Ave.

$25 (ticket also includes admission to the Blue Ox 100 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, which will run immediately prior to the Short Track Showdown). $15 tickets can be purchased at McGeorge Toyota (93919 W. Broad St.), and regular-priced tickets can be purchased through RIR or DennyHamlinFoundation.org

Now look, the rest of your weekend is about to get almost too fun, so we need to start off in a relaxing yet energizing atmosphere, one in which everything smells good and you may just walk off carrying a box of dirt. Oh, you guessed it, smarty. It’s Maymont’s Herbs Galore and More! There are forty vendors lined up in beautiful Maymont style, ready to give you advice and sell you awesome garden things like a trillion kinds of herbs (hence the “galore”) and annuals, perennials, trees, and other such planty things (hence the “and more”). If you’re into gardening, HG&M is a not-to-be-missed annual event.

Freddie Mercury said it best when he said, “Scaramouche! Scaramouche! Will you do the fandango?” But it was also pretty cool when he said, “I want to ride my bicycle! I want to ride my bike!” Did you know that he wrote that song not because he was using “riding a bicycle” to be a sexy metaphor, as some people (maybe me) thought, but because he was inspired by actual guys riding bikes on the Tour de France? See just how inspiring bikes can be and drop five bones on a ticket to a film from the Richmond Bicycle Film Festival program. Back for part two this Friday, the Richmond BFF gives us a bunch of films revolving around bikes for your viewing pleasure. Come by, stay for a film, admire the perhaps foolhardy dedication of all the people in spandex.

Another music festival! Have we died and gone to heaven? I mean, seriously, Yo La Tengo and De La Soul are coming, so…thanks a bil’, Style Weekly! If you want to get down with some seriously good world-class acts after getting down with some seriously good local acts, then get down to Brown’s Island this Saturday. And if you like feeling special, grab a VIP pass and get a t-shirt, good parking, and access to a lounge. And you know what that means. (Actually, I’m not sure. Drinks? Games of dice? Kicking back in a hot tub?)

There are several things you have in common with your kids besides DNA, and one is that you both have a working knowledge of Dr. Seuss books. Seussical the musical wasn’t around when we were kids, sadly. We would have hardly had time to see it anyway, what with all the sheap-shearing and roof-thatching. But now, NOW, you can take the little ones to the Sara Belle and Neil November Theatre (that’s the Empire Theatre to you purists) for a touching romp that teaches and entertains AT THE SAME TIME.